Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, or sex and made it illegal to retaliate against those who exercise the rights guaranteed by Title VII.
Author Archives: Ralph A. Somma
Social Media and Your Job: Think Before You Post
Can your social media activity get you fired? Employment attorney Ralph Somma discusses social media blunders that cost people their job. Before you publish to the internet, consider whether it could jeopardize your employment.
Who’s the Boss of Social Media?
Companies are claiming ownership of social media accounts used by employees arguing that they contain trade secrets, proprietary and/or confidential information. Not surprisingly, these arguments have met with mixed results. After all, social media is anything but secret or confidential.
As a result, companies are adjusting how they manage the social media accounts that employees are using to increase business contacts and promote the company.
Can my employer control my social media activity?
Employers are implementing policies that attempt to control the discussion by employees of workplace issues in social media. Those policies may violate federal law if they have the potential to restrict an employee's freedom to discuss conditions of employment that affect co-workers, employees everywhere or the general public.
Turn Over Your Social Media Login if You Want a Job
So why would you voluntarily turn over your social media passwords to anyone?!
Well, that’s exactly what some employers are requiring as a condition of employment.
A 2012 report by Gartner, Inc. estimates that by 2015, 60% of corporations will have formal programs directed at monitoring employee activity in social media. Why do these companies want access to your social media?
Social media may doom your job prospects before you walk in the door
Companies are increasingly trolling social media for information to assist in hiring decisions. While it may seem like a cheap and easy tool, it’s risky business. Nevertheless, companies are doing it more than you think. A recent CareerBuilder poll found that 43% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates; and that 51% of those companies found something in social media that caused them to reject a candidate.
Can Social Media Cost Me My Job?
A recent CareerBuilder survey found that 43% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates; another 12% who don’t, said they plan to start. 51% of employers who do such research said they rejected a candidate because of something they posted on social media.
So, with freedom of expression being one of the cornerstones of American society, and the internet being the infobahn, information superhighway, global village (plug in your favorite metaphor here) intended to carry that freedom to all four corners of the globe, should you be concerned that a tweet, post, poke, +1 or like will result in job retribution? Well, maybe.